Different Dragon
by Sky Hunter
Summary: When a young hunter and a sapient avian of a distant world stumble over a dying draconic creature, their lives take an unexpected turn.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: the Dragonriders of Pern is copyright to Anne McCaffrey. The characters, the planet Iris and any races native to it are mine.

Pressing her back against the slightly thorny bark of the kithra tree she was standing in-- at one of the massive branches about midway up its trunk, Shri sighed as she looked over at the next tree, which didn't seem to have any of its branches within reach from her current position. Well, that meant that she would have to go looking for one, an effort she had wished that she could have avoided.

Particulary in this area with all the kithra trees, she was already bleeding from a lot of tiny wounds caused by the thorns, and now her back certainly didn't feel much better. Now, would it be best to go up or down?

Above there was several promising branches stretching out towards trees closer to the wild forest where she hoped to find some of the youngling iridescent, and perhaps, if she was lucky, convince one of them to become her companion. But the specks of orange-red among the dark leafs made it clear that going up was not a good idea, vicious creatures such as the karin birds would be up there to feed off the suggary substance produced by the flowers.

While looking like tiny, two-legged iridescents, the karin birds were only animals, but they had a vicious and poisonous bite that lead to bad infections-- and especially now in the late spring when their poison glands were full so they could protect eggs and hatchlings.

So that meant going down was the safest option, if a rather unpleasant one as well.

Pulling a hand through her very short hair, the young irisian's green eyes narrowed slightly as she walked outwards at the branch, carefully judging the distance from that one to the one below and deciding the exact spot to aim for. Certainly her race had adapted for life in the irisian trees during the millenia that had passed since their human ancestors first settled at the planet, but their bodies still had their limitations, and the lack of wings often made a miscalculated jump fatal.

"Well, if I'm lucky, I may have access to a 'borrowed' set of wings in a few months from now" she mumbled to herself, leaning slightly forwards before diving from the branch-- using her elongated limbs for balance as she dropped towards her target.

Within seconds, she reached the branch several meters below, and with a twist of her body, she grabbed hold on a thinner branch with a foot and a hand-- before swinging up to move to a sturdier part. From here, things would be slightly easier as there was a mass of wines winding around the trunk of the tree, but there was still several tens of meters till she would reach a place where she could get over to the next tree.

Besides, the mere thought of going that close to the ground made her nervous-- predators such as the mist cats and various ground-bound ones often lurked close to the base of trees, hoping to catch young or injured animals venturing too close to the ground.

While she couldn't sense any threats in the immediate area, that didn't mean that there wasn't any, while this wasn't mist cat territory, some wandering young ones could be as clever as older adults when it came to telepathically hiding themselves.

More than once, people from her community had been killed, most recently a young man who had gone in the same class as her at school. And like her, he had gone out in hope of being able to attract a iridescent as his companion-- the challenge that was open to all teens from their sixteenth birthday.

Quickly looking around for any signs of mist, a clue that a mist cat might be in the process of teleporting in to attack, Shri shuddered before she quickly continued down the tree. That was really the worse, knowing that the creatures could just appear out of nowhere without warning to take a person, sometimes from as far as a hundred meters away-- which was just out of range of her senses.

No, she better stop thinking about that, too much fear was never a good thing out here close to the wild parts of the forest.

Then the ground came into view, while not usually directly visible due to the smaller plants and vines covering it, there was the occational patch of brown-- rotting vegetation and dirt, or places where one of the trees of the forest had fallen. However, the smell was what Shri noticed first, and she wrinkled her nose, a mix of rotting things and the rather pungent odour of certain ground flowers was far from pleasant.

/And that's a even better reason not to stay around/ she thought to herself, moving out at a branch that seemed like it would allow her to pass over to the next tree, from where it hopefully wouldn't be such a hassle to get to the next after that.

Her feet registering a slight shudder in the branch she was standing on, Shri froze and her eyes widened as she heard a slight rustle behind her, feathers moving as their owner shook itself. Running was not an option, and standing with her back against whatever it was certainly wasn't either, so she turned around.

Cold, predatory eyes that still contained a unmistakeable intelligence, glittered in greens and yellows as their owner looked down at Shri, titling its head back and forth as it seemed to be studying her. Next she noticed its feathers, whose main color was a rich cobalt blue tipped with gold and a emerald green center, and then the wings which shifted in obvious agitation.

_Is safe_, the iridescent said, white teeth showing briefly as he lowered his head to sniff at Shri-- perhaps still not sure whether to see her as a fellow sapient being or prey, _there's something new in the forest. Resembles us distantly, but larger and different-- fell from the sky..won't like much longer...there is also one resembling you.._

Unlike irisians, iridescents spoke in emotions and images(although the older ones often learned words from their irisian partners), and while Shri had taken a while learning their way of speaking before going out to search, it took her a little time to make any sense of what the young one standing in front of her was saying.

From what she understood though, some kind of winged creature had fallen from the sky, it had then tumbled downwards in the forest for several tens of meters before its fall was stopped by the branches of a uelsa tree.

"How far is it, can you show me?" Shri asked, carefully forming the appropriate images and emotions in her mind to make sure that the young iridescent understood, then she took a step backwards, hoping that she had understood correctly that he wanted her to do something about it.

_Yesss, they don't belong here. Come._

With that, the male iridescent turned his side to Shri and looked at her, _irisians are so slow, too much so when flying is faster. Is almost fully grown and I have often carried younger siblings, you're no heavier. Ride like this._

Then he communicated an image of how Shri was to ride by laying along his back, using her arms to hold on to his neck and her feet to hold his tail-- an awkward position, but one that would make riding possible without interfering with his wings too much.

Still, Shri was hesitant as she climbed onto the iridescent's back, knowing very well that even experienced iridescent companions rarely rode unless there was an emergency, and then they used a light harness that kept them from falling. There was also the fact that iridescents weren't all that large, and carrying a rider could soon tire even the strongest ones when flying.

_You need not worry, I'll only jump/glide from tree to tree. Will still be much faster though_, the iridescent said proudly, telling Shri several times to adjust her position until it was the least uncomfortable for him.

_My youngling pack, over with the accident, says that No Feather is with young. The one resembling you is badly wounded too, but near awake and afraid._

Before Shri got a chance to ask for details, the iridescent jumped for the next tree, that movement and the jerk as he spread his wings almost causing her to loose her grip, she did manage to hold on though-- gripping her 'mount's' neck and tail as hard as she dared.

-888-

By the time they reached the place which the iridescent had told her about, Shri's arms and legs were aching horribly, and while there came no complains from him, she suspected that the iridescent felt the same. Giving himself a shake once Shri had dismounted, the iridescent arched his neck as he indicated the scene in front of them with a movement of his wings, as if she could have avoided seeing.

Cradled by two massive branches, there was a huge dragon-like creature with golden-tawny hide, one of its wings was hanging limply straight down while the other had been mostly torn off. There was also a green liquid staining its tawny hide and coming from its numerous wounds, was that the creature's blood?

Suddenly she noticed movement by the draconics shoulders, and looking up, she couldn't keep back her surprise when seeing a female human laying limply on top of the draconic.

Back at school, she had seen pictures and drawings of the ancestors of the irisians-- sent by the academies in the larger cities where they still had contact with the rest of the intergalactic society, but seeing a living one was a different matter. So ungraceful and heavy of build when compared to her own kind, Shri thought, keeping her senses alert as she moved closer.

The offworld(that seemed most likely to her) draconic seemed to be roughly 50 feet long if her judgement was correct, and a creature that size could do a lot of damage if it suddenly decided to trash around. It didn't seem to be awake now, but that didn't mean that it wouldn't wake if it sensed that she was approaching..

_We are holding her, it is safe_, said one of the youngling iridescents, a white-bellied bronze female whose feathers were dusted with red, _you need to help the rider now. The No Feathers we do not know what to do with, the young within her mostly died in the fall.._

Shri sighed, hoping that she could trust the young iridescents assurances of that they held the alien draconic telepathically, they were young and a bit inexperienced-- and the minds of offworld beings could be quite strange at times. It still was her responsibility to try to help though, as while she couldn't judge the injuries from this distance, the rider was obviously still alive-- probably the body of the draconic had shielded her during the fall..

"Let me know if it's going to move" she asked, looking back at the female iridescent who had spoken to her.

_We will, no worries_, the male who had fetched her said, turning his head to nuzzle the slightly smaller rainbow-colored female standing beside him, _one will catch you if you fall_.

To the touch, the hide of the alien draconic was warm and almost suade-like, muscles trembling slightly under Shri's hands and feet as she climbed up its side to reach it's rider. But other than that, there was no alarming movements, and the rider didn't appear too lucid either as Shri used a knife to cut loose the leather straps holding the rider secure at the creatures neck.

I don't think the poor draconic have much of a chance, moving it is certainly out of the question. What did you say about the young though?" Shri asked, slowly getting the rider down with the assistance of one of the iridescents. Chittering amongst themselves, the iridescents took a while before one of them turned to answer, _we sense two, possibly three live young within her, they were not crushed in the fall like the others. They are not unharmed, but may be old enough to be taken out of mother's belly.._

One of the younglings approached the offworld draconic to poke experimentally at its belly with his talons, then he snorted and made a shallow cut, _dying inside egg and mother, bad way. Least we can do is to make it quick_.

The others communicated their agreement, several going to assist the male, and Shri quickly looked away as she made sure that the offworld rider was laying comfortably, hopefully the woman couldn't sense anything of what was done with her dragon. And a short while later, she sensed the iridescents removing the potentially still viable eggs, then came the crashing sounds as they pushed the body off the branches and let it fall. Perhaps it was not the proper way to treat the body of a being that might have been sapient, but trying to move it would have been far too much of a hassle.

Most likely the body would have attracted far too many predators by the time it could have been moved to a more suitable burrial site anyway.

_Come and look_, touching Shri's shoulder with his nose, the blue male directed her attention to the three eggs they had dug out of the mother's belly-- all were quite large and mottled, although the exact colors was difficult to see beneath the green stuff covering them. Several of the young iridescents were also covered by the same stuff, and after deciding that they couldn't stand its taste, they gave up on trying to lick it off their feathers and took off-- probably flying to bathe in the nearest stream or small lake.

Feeling a slight thrill as the blue male walked beside her over to the eggs, Shri glanced at him, not sure if she dared hope or not. Iridescents didn't always make it clear right away when they considering choosing a irisian companion, so she could only wait, and hope that the young male would tell her his name-- thus leaving no doubt that he had chosen her.

Upon inspecting the eggs for damage, Shri found that one of them was cracked slightly in some areas, but the shell and inner membrane seemed like it would hold, although the risk of bacterial infection was still there. Irisians and the other lifeforms at Iris were though and had easily survived offworld illnesses before, but how the bacteria and microbes of the planet could affect the draconics in the eggs, that was a serious danger.

_You will take them back to your community, babies have no place in a youth pack. Adults and companions from your home are on their way_, the blue male informed her, his eyes glittering as he watched the eggs over her shoulder. Actually, now when he stood so close, Shri also noticed tiny flecks of white among the other colors of his plumage-- making a nice addition.

_Move aside the adults say, coming to care for the rider and look at the eggs. Doctor is with them_.

Sniffing at Shri again, the blue male gave her a light nudge, wanting to know if she had anything good to eat with her-- once the companion of an adult iridescent had given him some marinated meat.

"I don't have anything like that, I'm sorry" Shri said, "when young people like me go out to search, we're supposed to live off what we can find in the forest. You probably won't like the sugar cubes my mother gave me before I left either".

Taking the idea of what sugar cubes was from her mind, the iridescent thought for a few moment, then his upper lip curled in distaste, _sweet things? Noooo.._

She started towards the base of the branch she was standing on, but suddenly the iridescent's wing got in her way, and turning slightly-- she found herself looking into his eyes, the green/yellow orbs glittering as they watched her.

_Mist swirling over water and the moist ground, dark and almost ominous/flash of sun from above/shining through the mist and flickering across the ground/all becoming brighter. Sun-in-mist...Sunmist? Mistsun? Suinsst? Miesun?_

Caught in the sudden and powerful mind-to-mind contact with the iridescent as he studied her personality and then spoke his name followed by the much simpler versions, Shri staggered, only faintly registering that the blue moved close to steady her and keep her from falling.

But more importantly, she knew beyond doubt that the young iridescent had chosen her as its rider.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: the Dragonriders of Pern is copyright to Anne McCaffrey.

And I would like to appologize for such a short chapter, the next one will contain more.

* * *

About half an hour later, after they had both sat down on the base of the massive branch the strange dragon had crashed onto, the young iridescent suddenly snorted-- giving Shri the image of a middle aged woman and her rather impressively colored iridescent approaching. Not too happy about the presence of another male, he snapped at the air as Shri asked if anyone else were coming, and he was quite surly as he also let her know that a team of tree-runners were coming as well.

Hunters and athletes, tree-runners often accompanied iridescents and their partners on less risky missions, and in larger groups-- they could usually deal with less severe threats on their own. Even so, they were not people to take risks, and preferred to be in the company of at least once iridescent when going into the deep forest. They were not stupid after all.

Finally spotting the older iridescent and his partner approaching about a minute later, Shri swallowed nervously as she placed a hand at the neck of the young male. The Bond between them was so new, and she wasn't sure how he might react if he decided that the other male was a threat to them, all she could do was to communicate a sense of calmness to her new friend.

The young male shook his wings and growled unhappily as the older one landed at the branch just a few meters away. But then, to Shri's relief, he averted his gaze and lowered his head in submission as the older male communicated a few sharp comments. But he still muttered unhappily in the back of her mind.

"You are dealing with him as well as you can" the older rider said once she had dismounted, placing a reassuring hand at Shri's shoulder.

"Those young ones, males in particular, will almost always be quite a handful. I would say that yours might have a bit more sense than most though, some have come rather close to actually challenging Windre over there. Just keep doing what you are doing, and you'll be fine".

Shri lowered her head slightly as she smiled, glad for the older rider's approval.

"Is there anything we can help with, senior Gina? My friend here, and his pack, showed me all this. I did what I could for the rider, that wasn't much, and then the younglings removed the eggs they thought might survive from the dragon's body".

Looking over at the eggs and the strange woman, Shri shifted slightly as the tree-runners arrived, one of them riding a large air sled. Due to that the electronics in the hovercraft had a bad habit of attracting mist cats, air sleds were rarely used in the forest, though they did have their uses in situations like this. Neither the iridescents, nor the tree-runners could be expected to carry the loads presented by the offworld dragonrider or the eggs though, so obviously the runners had decided that the risk was an acceptable one.

At least with two iridescents around.

Gina shook her head.

"I believe that everything is being taken care of for now, and I'll have Windre explain a few things about the soon to be home of your friend, if you don't mind. What is his name though?"

"Not at all, thank you. And I believe that the shortened name he liked the best was Suinsst, his full name is..."

Several wrinkles formed on Shri's forehead as she did her best to telepathically communicate Suinsst's name as he saw himself, not that she did it very well though, judging by the way the young male hummed as she communicated a pulse of humor.

_Stumbling mind, elegant as stone falling!_

Suinsst's eyes glittered as he tossed his head and tail, before turning away to eye the tree-runners with great interest. By now, they had already put the eggs in protective cases and loaded them onto the air sled, while those with medical training were tending to the offworlder. As nothing of real interest to him was happening though, he quickly turned back to Shri again.

Giving the iridescent a sidelong glare, Shri clicked her tongue.

"Insulting me now? Rude creature..."

Pushing his head against her, coming dangerously close to pushing her into Windre, Suinsst chirped happily. Then he dipped a wing and bent his forelegs.

_All__ almost ready, we go. Funny stones for thoughts, want to see your nest._

"Go ahead, I and Windre will be right along. Don't go too far though, the tree-runners will have to go a bit slower now due to the load on the air sled, so I promised that you two would help us keep a look out" Gina said. And Shri had to quickly force back a frown at the senior's badly disguised amusement, as a senior, she had obviously picked up any exchanges between her and Suinsst. Of-course she loved the iridescent, even though they had only bonded today, but the training was harsh for a junior rider-- and she really didn't want to appear incapable of handling it.

It was with a bit of anxiousness that she climbed up on Suinsst's back again though, the young male's mood was a bit too cheerful, and she picked up hints of that he wanted to show off to Windre.

"You behave now" she muttered to him, wishing that she had had a proper harness like Gina and Windre wore, making flight a lot safer. No iridescent would intentionally injure his or her partner of-course, but accidents did happen, especially with young iridescents unaccustomed to their riders and what they could handle.

The reply from Suinsst was little more than a half-formed promise of mangled thoughts and feelings, and then he gently dropped off the branch as soon as she had a proper grip around his neck and tail. With a flick of his feathered wings, he turned in midair and winged forwards-- trying his best to keep up with the air sled. As the machine slowed down however, he nosed it carefully as he glided by, before veering left to check the forest for danger once told to do so by Windre.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Pern and the pernese dragons are copyright to Anne McCaffrey. The characters and non-pernese races are mine.

* * *

The first weeks after Suinsst choosing her and the discovery of the strange dragon and its rider, were anything but easy to Shri. As a trainee, there seemed to be no end to the amount she had to learn about the forest-- its dangers and the creatures and plants that could be found there. Neither did it take long for Gina and her other teachers to make it quite clear that she wasn't anywhere close to as knowledgeable as she had wanted to believe.

Most difficult of it all though, was working with the young iridescent to strenghten the link between them, at the same time as she had to learn how to block out the things she had no need to know about most of the time. That wasn't made easier by a certain headstrong creature who didn't see much point in being subtle. And who had caused her more than one sleepless night as she had to stay awake to concentrate about blocking out what happened between him and some of the young female iridescents at the community.

That one night four days after she had come home with Suinsst, had not been something she cared about repeating.

A warm blanket wrapped around her against the chill of early morning, Shri sat outside of her dwelling, leaning against the sturdy wall. While there was still two hours before she would have to report in for patrol duty along with the four other trainee pairs at the community. She often liked having a bit of quiet time in the morning to herself to wake up properly.

Besides, Suinsst would probably wake up in not so long, and knowing the young male-- she knew he would want a hunt and a grooming before that.

Life out in the wild forest was hard and dangerous, even for large and intelligent predators such as the iridescents. So while Suinsst was a pain at times-- competing with the other young males for rank and attention from the females, he was certainly aware of the advantages of having a rider.

"Not another sleepless night I hope?"

Startled out of her thoughts, Shri turned her head in the direction that the voice had come from to see one of the trainee tree-runners grin down at her from a bridge four meters or so above. It took her a moment or two to recognize Jeffrey, a distant cousin of hers, and she grinned back as she stood up. Then she quickly moved to the left as Jeffrey, true to character, jumped off the bridge to summersault through the air-- landing elegantly at the branch beside her.

"Always showing off...," Shri muttered with a teasing grin, catching the piece of bread stuffed with greens that Jeffrey tossed to her, "guess that I can forgive you since you brought breakfast though. Any chance that you might have some coffey as well?"

"I fear not, as I was just on my way to the kitchens. Wouldn't mind some company on the way there though, if you feel up to going anywhere before you have been served your first dose of coffein."

Shri snorted, and was about to throw the blanket at Jeffrey when something strange pulsed through the mental ambience. A feeling of being trapped in a space that was much too restricting, of hunger and a strange need so strong that it made her flinch. Then multiple points of view struck her as people and iridescents woke up in response to the strangeness, and then her eyes slowly widened as she received the impression of three mottled eggs in a nest surrounded by heaters.

Moments later however, Shri had to slam her mental shields up as the mental anguish of the woman they had found with the strange dragon reached her, along with another and stronger pulse of the feelings she now knew had to come from the eggs.

"The eggs.., " she mumbled, turning to look at a equally dazed-looking Jeffrey, "should we go there to watch them hatching? Better be quick though, as I'm sure that we're not the only ones who would want to see it".

:_Unborns so noisy, may attract bad things. Bosses say we watch out, mist cat will be very bad_:

Swooping down from above, Suinsst hovered for a moment-- the bakdraft of his wings forcing Shri and Jeffrey to hunch down. Then he barked a response to the call from another couple of iridescents flying nearby before he finally landed, lowering his head to give Shri an affectionate nudge.

"Would you mind giving us a quick ride to the Infirmary building first?" Shri asked the iridescent, a purring sound reaching her ears as she scratched his lower jaw. He could carry two people over short distances as long as he didn't have to actively flying, the excercise they had been put through during the past weeks had made certain of that. But still, this early in the morning, Suinsst might not feel quite up to it.

Suinsst looked towards Jeffrey with a distdaineful snort:_old, shatterwinged feathered one day I can't carry two young ones. Two weights at shoulders be no problem in short flight, come!_:

Then he bent his fore-legs, wings unfolding so they wouldn't be in the way as Shri and Jeffrey climbed up. It probably wouldn't a comfortable flight for any of them, with so little available space to sit on, and they interfering with Suinsst's wing-muscles. But with only a short glide of about a hundred meters or so down to the infirmary building where the eggs were kept, they would manage.

Still, Shri had to make an effort not to cry out as the iridescent dropped off the branch into a glide. It was one thing to travel from tree to tree on ones own, but a precarious seat on the back of a flying iridescent was something quite different. Judging by the strangled sound from Jeffrey behind her, she was not the only one feeling that way.

She wouldn't think about what might happen if she lost her grip and fell...

Quicker than Shri had expected, Suinsst reached their destination, and stretching his legs-- the young iridescent landed heavily. And she quickly jumped down at the ground, grinning as she turned towards Jeffrey to see his rather anxious expression.

"Can't say that's an experience I care about repeating anytime soon. Tree-running may not be easy, but I believe that I definitely prefer it to flying," he said, flexing his fingers to loosen them after having held onto Shri's belt rather tightly.

With a chuckle, Shri gave Suinsst a pat, thanking the young male before he launched himself into the air again to join the other iridescents to patrol the community borders. Animals like mist cats were easily attracted by strong emotions running through the ambience, and the hunger emitted by the dragonets about to hatch was almost certain to lure something to the community.

"It's different when you're riding properly-- laying on his back and wearing a security-harness. Though I have to agree with you in this case," she said, hurrying towards the entrance to the building as she noticed several people on their way there too. Space in the room where the offworld dragon eggs were kept was limited, so she and Jeffrey would have to hurry if they were to have any hope of getting to see the hatching.

Entering the room, the first thing that hit Shri was the heat-- almost painful after the cool air outside. And the ambience trembled with feelings and emotions that she could almost feel even through the shields she had put up. Even if the minds of the dragonets in the eggs were different and certainly not as strong as a iridescent, Gina had been quite right when claiming that they were telepathic.

And within a nest clearly made by an iridescent-- of fresh twigs and grasses woven together, insulated with down, lay the three eggs that had been taken out of their mother all those weeks ago. One was rather large, nearly twice as big as the two others, a pale green and tan of color. Then there was a tawny and yellow one, and the one that had been slightly damaged, old cracks in the oily black and grey shell mended by a strong, glue-like substance.

By the looks of it, the dragonet inside had survived due to the efforts of the medics, at least it seemed to be wobbling just as vigorously as the two others.

"I just hope that this won't take forever, the temperature in here is killing me," Jeffrey mumbled, watching the eggs as several of the medics examined them. Some were also wearing badges that marked them as being from one of the coastal cities. Which wasn't really surprising, no doubt the discovery of them and the deceased offworld dragon and her rider had caused quite a stirr.

This far, Shri hadn't heard anything about where they might have come from though, so the planetary government had probably not been able to establish where the dragons might have come from. Something that did suggest that their world of origin might be quite far away.

"Pay attention, its happening," Jeffrey whispered, nudging her side. And looking at him, Shri frowned slightly. While she couldn't read much from him, there was something strange going on, and she percieved an unformed mind bend towards the young man.

As if it was seeking something?

Then she noticed a web of hairline cracks appearing across the shell of the tawny and yellow egg, before the hatchling inside suddenly broke through, escaping the confines of the egg in a surprisingly short time.

By no standards could the hatchling that emerged be considered anything but ugly-- awkward-looking with a oversized head and spindly body, wings dragging limply at its sides as it struggled to get its legs underneath it. Even under the egg-fluid covering most of it though, the dragonet's color was clearly a pale leaf green, her wings seeming to sport some darker mottling.

Squawking, the little green's head shifted jerkily back and forth as she obviously tried to focus-- communicating alarm and hunger. And Shri groaned as her belly cramped in sympathy-- the dragonet's telepathy might be weak compared to an iridescent's, but its need was certainly strong enough.

A few of the medics walked closer to the hatchling, reassuring her so that they could get closer in order to examine her. Even if she appeared healthy, that was by no means certain, most likely the dragonet and her siblings had to be monitored closely for any signs of illness. There was no saying how they might react to the various germs and the like native to Iris.

None of them got close however, as someone else suddenly moved towards the dragonet, blocking them as he more or less fell down at his knees in front of her. And there was a look of utter amazement on Jeffrey's face as he reached out to stroke the green's head, as a feeling of belonging and togetherness hit the ambience with the force of a hunting iridescent taking down its prey.

Shri's knees nearly buckled in reaction, and she had to forcefully tear herself away to avoid getting lost in the overwhelming bonding that occured between Jeffrey and the dragonet. But even then, there was some feelings it induced that did make her blush, though she probably wasn't the only one noticing it.

:_Oh...hells... No, it's ok...I am fine, just quite overwhelmed. You know your own name? Sharith..._:

Standing up at shaking legs, Jeffrey was rather pale as he turned to look at the crowd that had gathered in the room, clearly confused as he tried to sort out the telempathic bond he had somehow formed with the dragonet. Faintly similar to what was between a iridescent and its rider, but so vastly stronger that Shri just couldn't wrap her mind around it.

Though, what did make it out into the mental ambience was probably nothing compared to what Jeffrey might be going through. Certainly she didn't know what might come of what had just happened, but she did feel quite sorry for Jeffrey-- as while he would get help no doubt, it would be entirely up to him to deal with most of it.

Anxiousness, almost fear and a touch of wonder surged through the ambience as the two remaining eggs finally cracked open. From the pale green and tan egg came a dark chocolate brown dragonet with lighter dapples, and from the black and grey egg appeared a deep blue dragonet with paler shading along his spine and wingbones.

"Can you help me, Shri? I..I really need to sit down I think, and she is so very hungry," one hand at the green's head and the other held tightly clenched by his side, Jeffrey gave her a weak smile as he stopped next to her. Two of the medics were standing just behind them, and though they hadn't moved to interfere yet, they both looked rather worried. As she looked at them though, one quietly requested that she helped take Jeffrey and the dragonet to a more secluded place where both could be checked to make sure that there wouldn't be any long-lasting problems.

Through one of the other riders present, they had also gotten a iridescent to bring something to eat for the dragonets.

"Certainly, just try to relax, ok?" Shri said, moving quickly to support Jeffrey as he staggered, then-- with an impatient and hungry dragonet following, they made their way into the next room. When the other two eggs hatched, people were noticeably more nervous after what they had sensed Jeffrey experience certainly. But as she helped Jeffrey to sit down at a couch, the effects of another bonding hit the ambience.

At least she was able to shield herself better this time, so the impact was less at the second and the third time, though it still made her twitch. There was no doubt in her mind that she was very glad that it had been Jeffrey and not her that the dragonet had picked, a thought that was heartily agreed on by Suinsst. Just the thought of having to go through the same as her cousin was, with the added matter of a very angry iridescent in her mind, made her shudder.


End file.
